Many types of pointing devices are known in the art and examples include a mouse, joystick, touchpad, track ball, computer tablet and touch screen, amongst others. These pointing devices typically function in conjunction with a graphical user interface (GUI) and are often associated with a particular graphics sprite or screen pointer such as an arrow, a large I, a hand, a finger, etc.
Popular GUIs include those provided in word processing applications such as MS Word and WordPerfect, those provided in spreadsheet applications such as Excel and Lotus and those provided in the Windows line of operating systems, etc. In a word processing application, for example, a pointing device is typically used to position a cursor amongst text on a screen, to activate scroll bar functions and to investigate and select from pull down or pop up menus (such as File, Edit, View, Format, etc.) and the like. To activate a scroll bar or to select a menu item, a user typically has to move the screen pointer to the scroll bar or item, depress a control button when the screen pointer is in an appropriate location and then reposition the screen pointer where desired in the text.
To eliminate the tedium and distraction of positioning and repositioning a screen pointer while scrolling through a document, one prior art device has incorporated a mechanism limited to the scrolling function within a conventional mouse. The mechanism is usually implemented as a wheel or the like and a user typically uses their thumb or finger to turn the wheel in the direction the user desires to scroll. Such a combined pointing device is intended primarily for Internet users who desire to scroll through web sites while having the main cursor available for page or hot link selections, etc. While this attempt provides some benefit, it also has disadvantageous aspects and fails to meet the needs of computing device users.
One of these disadvantageous aspects is that the additional scrolling mechanism is limited in function. There are many other graphical display scenarios and pointing device combinations that it would be desirable to achieve. These might include the ability to uniquely control two or more individual pointing devices or to configure one pointing device to be used for a plurality of functions. For example, a touchpad could be used in a first mode as a screen pointer and in a second mode as a stylus pad on which one can enter their signature on a letter or facsimile transmission.
Another disadvantageous aspect of the above described prior art pointing device is that it is only available in a desktop environment and not in a mobile computing environment. Non-desktop environments are more restrictive in what functions or components can be supported.